Norwich University, the first private military college in
the United States, is located in Northfield,
Vermont. It was founded in 1819 by Capt. Alden Partridge, a former Acting Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. After resigning from the Army (in 1818),
Partridge founded Norwich in order to promote the concept of "citizen-soldiers". His educational theories influenced the
establishment of modern Reserve Officers
Training Corps (ROTC), which was established in 1916.